Final answer:
A gene of 900 nucleotides could produce a protein with a maximum of 300 amino acids since amino acids are encoded by triplets of nucleotides, and there are three stop codons within the 64 possible codons.
Step-by-step explanation:
A gene composed of 900 nucleotides could result in a protein containing a maximum of 300 amino acids. This is because each amino acid is encoded by a triplet of nucleotides, known as a codon, and the genetic code is based on these codons.
Since there are 900 nucleotides, and it takes 3 nucleotides to code for one amino acid, you would divide 900 by 3, which equals 300.
It's important to note that one of the codons signals the start of protein synthesis and is also the codon for the amino acid methionine.
Additionally, three of the 64 possible codons are stop codons that signal the end of the protein, so the actual number of amino acid codons is 61.